Sherwood Smith
Feb. 13th, 2007 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alanajoliWhen I was in late grade school, I made the discovery of the young adult section at my local library, in good part due to Marilyn Butjer, the wonderful children's librarian, and Tamora Pierce. (Alanna: The First Adventure was shelved in the children's room; the rest of the series were rightfully shelved in young adult.)
Of the series that I discovered in YA, two disappeared for awhile and have miraculously made it back into print, much to my delight. The first are Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" books (his "Wizard" series--which happens after the "Warlock" series--never went out of print, though the first half vanished for nearly a decade). The second books were the "Wren" series by Sherwood Smith. After trying to hunt them out in college and being told they no longer existed, I was delighted back in, oh, 2002, when they suddenly reappeared on the shelves at the Barnes and Noble where I worked. Alongside them appeared a book called Crown Duel.
Whether or not I read Crown Duel when I was, myself, a YA, I don't remember, but after having just reread it again this weekend, I can safely say that it has become one of my favorite books. (I haven't done a top ten list of my favorites in awhile, so I'm not sure where it would score, but it has climbed higher since last count.) One of the things that makes the book rank so highly is exactly what Smith had worried would make the book unsaleable: the prickliness of the narrator. Mel is a real heroine for her bravery and her stubbornness, but that same quality that serves her so well when facing her adversaries makes it difficult for her to change her mind--to realize that what she had long believed isn't necessarily true. It's exactly that resistance to change that makes her so appealing to me, because it makes her feel so honest to me. She's far from perfect; she acknowledges her faults (sometimes abusing herself a bit much over them) and is her own harshest critic.
It also features one of my favorite romances in YA literature. (It ranks alongside The Perilous Gard. These aren't primarily books about romance, but the romantic element is one I keenly feel, in part because the heroines don't think of themselves as possible objects of affection, which is how I felt into my teenage years.)
After finishing, I did what I normally do when I remember a YA book that I feel we should have in the local library--looked it up and e-mailed the youth services librarian. Doing a little extra research, I discovered that Smith has a grown-up book out! Set in the same world as Crown Duel, Inda is an adult fantasy novel that came out sometime late last year; the sequel, The Fox, is due out in August. I also discovered that Smith is on live journal. (Ha ha! Another famous author enters "famous author cafe," where I can overhear her innermost thoughts and feelings, so long as she publishes them.)
All this is largely to say, if you haven't read Sherwood Smith, put her on your reading list. (You can also find her at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sartorias.)
--
Doesn't it just figure that after finally getting caught up reading lj, I've fallen behind again? This time I blame my knee--I tore a ligament doing tae bo (cheesy, I know) so now I'm in a brace for a week. It's hard to ice the leg and read all my industry news online at the same time, so the former has won out over the latter. Alas; I'll just have to catch up all over again.
Of the series that I discovered in YA, two disappeared for awhile and have miraculously made it back into print, much to my delight. The first are Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" books (his "Wizard" series--which happens after the "Warlock" series--never went out of print, though the first half vanished for nearly a decade). The second books were the "Wren" series by Sherwood Smith. After trying to hunt them out in college and being told they no longer existed, I was delighted back in, oh, 2002, when they suddenly reappeared on the shelves at the Barnes and Noble where I worked. Alongside them appeared a book called Crown Duel.
Whether or not I read Crown Duel when I was, myself, a YA, I don't remember, but after having just reread it again this weekend, I can safely say that it has become one of my favorite books. (I haven't done a top ten list of my favorites in awhile, so I'm not sure where it would score, but it has climbed higher since last count.) One of the things that makes the book rank so highly is exactly what Smith had worried would make the book unsaleable: the prickliness of the narrator. Mel is a real heroine for her bravery and her stubbornness, but that same quality that serves her so well when facing her adversaries makes it difficult for her to change her mind--to realize that what she had long believed isn't necessarily true. It's exactly that resistance to change that makes her so appealing to me, because it makes her feel so honest to me. She's far from perfect; she acknowledges her faults (sometimes abusing herself a bit much over them) and is her own harshest critic.
It also features one of my favorite romances in YA literature. (It ranks alongside The Perilous Gard. These aren't primarily books about romance, but the romantic element is one I keenly feel, in part because the heroines don't think of themselves as possible objects of affection, which is how I felt into my teenage years.)
After finishing, I did what I normally do when I remember a YA book that I feel we should have in the local library--looked it up and e-mailed the youth services librarian. Doing a little extra research, I discovered that Smith has a grown-up book out! Set in the same world as Crown Duel, Inda is an adult fantasy novel that came out sometime late last year; the sequel, The Fox, is due out in August. I also discovered that Smith is on live journal. (Ha ha! Another famous author enters "famous author cafe," where I can overhear her innermost thoughts and feelings, so long as she publishes them.)
All this is largely to say, if you haven't read Sherwood Smith, put her on your reading list. (You can also find her at
sartorias.)--
Doesn't it just figure that after finally getting caught up reading lj, I've fallen behind again? This time I blame my knee--I tore a ligament doing tae bo (cheesy, I know) so now I'm in a brace for a week. It's hard to ice the leg and read all my industry news online at the same time, so the former has won out over the latter. Alas; I'll just have to catch up all over again.
